PANTERA PARTS CONNECTION - Key Persons

It has been said that De Tomaso's production models "range from merely handsome to downright stunning", and have been called "practical exotics" (especially the Pantera).alejandr_alejandro2 Alejandro de Tomaso is truly an interesting personality. During the last decade he continually made headline news as he bought and sold car factories in the same way a used car dealer buys and sells Chevrolets. He juggled several companies and continued to enlarge his empire from 1966 until 1976. Beginning about 1986 some turmoil occurred, culminating in his selling half of Maserati and Innocenti to Fiat in 1989. Such are the many peaks and valley's in the career of a business tycoon. De Tomaso was born (a twin) July 10, 1928 in Buenos Aires and kept his Argentine citizenship even though he has lived in Europe for more than 35 years. His grandfather originally emigrated from the South of Italy. Alejandro's father was born in Argentina in 1894. He studied medicine and law. He was Minister of Agriculture and on his way to becoming President of Argentina when he died in 1933 at the early age of 39. Alejandro's mother came from a wealthy family of Spanish origin and descended from a Viceroy of Argentina in 1570. Her name was Ceballos, and an avenue in Buenos Aires still carries that name. Alejandro left school at the age of 15 and went to work on one of the many estates his mother owned. He returned to the city after the war, where he and some friends started a political news paper called "Clarin" to oppose President Peron and his government. Eventually he was arrested and forced to return to the countryside. In 1955 he returned to Buenos Aires to take part in an attempt to overthrow the Peron regime, but when this failed he was forced to leave the country (and the politics) for good. From an early age racing and racing cars has possessed de Tomaso. In 1945 he drove his first race in a modified Bugatti Type 35. He started in club races, but in 1954 he was offered a chance to co-drive a Maserati in the 1000-km race of Buenos Aires. One year later he managed to win his class in this important race, together with Reyes in a new 2 litre Maserati A6GCS. In 1955 he found a job as a test driver for OSCA (founded by the Maserati brothers), in Bologna, Italy. The Maserati factory did not need his help, but it was there that he met a tall American blond, Elizabeth Haskell, granddaughter of William C. Durant, one of the founders of General Motors. Elizabeth had made a name for herself racing MGs and Siatas in SCCA races, and had traveled to Modena to look for a new Maserati sports car. She bought a 150S and found a husband at the same time! Driving Elizabeth's car, de Tomaso and Tommasi finished fourth in the 1956 1000 km race of Buenos Aires. In 1956 De Tomaso married Elizabeth (who took the Italian version of her name, Isabelle). They competed together in the 12 hours race at Sebring, but went out after one hour with a broken gearbox.

Isabelle de Tomaso's brother, Amory Haskell and her brother in law, John C. Ellis ran a successful business in New Jersey, the Rowan Controller Company of Oceanport. The company did well and was quite profitable particularly in electronics. Cars interested them as well and so de Tomaso sold Ghia to his relatives in May 1967. In October 1967, Rowan also obtained 80% of the De Tomaso Automobili stock leaving Alejandro with enough cash in the bank for more new ventures. One of these was a Formula 2 car for which Gianpaolo Dallara made the drawings. Jackie Ickx drove the car on the circuit of Enna. Piers Courage tried his luck at Vallelunga and then the car was shipped to South America for Jonathan Williams to compete in the Argentine Temporada. In 1969 De Tomaso Automobili moved to the via Jacopo Peri 68, where the production of the Mangusta really got going. 1969 must have been an important year for de Tomaso! He not only bought Carrozzeria Vignale (70% of the money came from Rowan), but he also made his first contacts with Henry Ford II, a move that was to have a direct influence on his future.